


Faction High School

by Astro_Gobo



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, High School AU, Sheke, Urlene, fourtris - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-10-17 17:50:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10599084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astro_Gobo/pseuds/Astro_Gobo
Summary: Beatrice has just moved to Chicago, and is about to start high school, after being homeschooled for her whole life. How will she adapt to high school life? FourTris, Sheke, Urlene, WillxChristina. Rated Teen and Up for language.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my Divergent High School AU! I know a lot of people have done these, so I'll be trying to make mine unique and different from the rest.

The blaring of my brother’s alarm cuts through the morning fog, jerking me awake. We share a room in our small house, and I crack my eyes open to see him stumbling out the door, leaving the alarm on. “Caleb,” I mumble. “Turn off the alarm.”  
He pops his head back into the room. “You still need to wake up,” he points out, ever selfless, but today it’s just annoying. My family moved here to Chicago over the summer, and today is mine and my brother’s first day at the large Faction High School. I had wanted to have a restful night’s sleep on the first day of school; I had even gone to the trouble of laying out my clothes last night. But, apparently Caleb had other plans.  
“I have my own alarm, you know,” I grumble, but he’s already gone. I swing my legs over the side of my bed, sighing and turning off his alarm. As I shuffle to the kitchen, trying to blink the sleep from my eyes, Caleb rushes past me several times, running back and forth down the hallway to find all his school supplies.  
I sit down at the dining table after getting cereal, milk, and some orange juice from the kitchen. I stare sleepily at the juice, contemplating emptying the whole thing over my head to wake myself up faster. Before I can finish my musings, my mother and father come into the room, and sit down with me. “Early start?” my mother says questioningly. I grunt, which she takes as a yes. “Don’t worry,” she says. “Caleb won’t be like this every day. It’s just, the rush of the first day is getting to him.” I grunt again, and take a bite of my cereal.  
An hour later, I’m waiting for the bus with Caleb, who checks his bag every ten seconds to make sure he still has all his things with him. While less sleepy than I had been in the morning, I’m still almost falling asleep on my feet. My bag feels heavier and heavier on my shoulder every minute. Just as it starts slipping off, the bus pulls up, and I force myself to sling it back over my shoulder and walk onto the bus.  
My brother immediately goes and sits beside our friend Susan, who we had met in a summer camp we had both attended. The only other empty seat is beside a dark-skinned girl with dark, curly hair, who seems to be falling asleep on the windowsill. When I sit down, a blond boy behind her pokes her shoulder, and she sits up with a jerk. “Huh? Wassgoin’.. We there? You’re supposed to wake me up when we’re there, Will!”  
The boy, apparently named Will, gestures to me, and the girl’s bleary eyes focus on me. “New?” she asks. I nod slightly, surprised by her openness. She holds her right hand out to me, her other hand rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I’m Christina,” she says, yawning.  
“Bea..” My voice trails off, and I realize, I don’t want to be known as Beatrice my whole life. I need something new, different, for this new place. “I’m Tris,” I say firmly.  
“Tris..” Christina repeats. “Nice to meet you. Welcome to Faction High.” She moves her outstretched hand slightly, prompting me to shake it, and I hesitate. Back in Virginia, my brother and I had both been homeschooled, almost never leaving the house. Even when we did, we almost never spoke to anyone or shook anyone’s hand. We would take hour-long classes with other homeschoolers, but we would always greet them by nodding our heads, never by shaking hands.  
I focus back on Christina’s outstretched hand, then take it, saying, “Nice to meet you too.”  
When we reach the school, Christina turns to me and asks, “What locker number d’you have?”  
I pull a scrap of paper out of my pocket, where I had written everything I needed to know last night, and squint at it. “Uhh..274.”  
“Awesome, that’s only three down from mine!” she says energetically. But then, she seems to remember something that instantly kills her cheery mood. “That’s also the one right next to Peter’s,” she adds, in a much darker tone of voice than before.  
“Who’s Peter?” I ask apprehensively.  
“Secondary Jackass of the school,” she replies immediately. To answer my questioning look, she adds, “Eric’s the Supreme Jackass, he’s the assistant principal. They’re both complete jerks, pretty sure Peter’s going to work for Eric whenever he finishes school.”  
“Ah, ok.”  
She leans in slightly and speaks more quietly. “Don’t look now, but there’s a jackass reunion goin’ on over there,” angling her head to the side instead of pointing.  
I glance over to see a tall guy with dark hair talking with a blond guy with way too many piercings to be healthy and several tattoos on his neck. They both seem high school age. “Sorry, which one’s Eric?” I ask.  
“Blond, piercings, tattoos.”  
“That guy’s the assistant principal? Isn’t he way too young?”  
“Well, he finished high school when he was 15, and did all four years’ worth of college in three years, so.. According to the principal, that’s not too young.”  
We reach our lockers, and I start to put away my textbooks for the last three classes. Christina does the same, then she turns and asks, “What classes do you have first?”  
“Umm..” I start, trying to remember. “Math, Honors History, AP English, Spanish.”  
“Awesome, so I’ve got Math and Spanish with you, and.. Shit, you’ve got English with Peter. Will’s in it too, though, so that’s good..” Her voice trails off, and she seems to be thinking about something. Thankfully, she didn’t see me flinch at her use of the swear word. My parents never let us swear, or watch anything with curses, so I’m still unaccustomed to it. “Oh, and you’re gonna eat with us at lunch, ok?” Christina adds, tearing me from my thoughts, a grin appearing on her face.  
“Well.. who’s ‘us’?”  
“Oh, it’s just me, Will, Uriah, Zeke, probably Shauna and Lynn, definitely Marlene.. Oh, and.. Wait, no, he left.”  
“Hang on, who left?”  
“Oh, just some friend of Zeke and Shauna, he was always mysterious and weird, never knew him that well. He graduated last year.”  
“Ok..” The bell rings, interrupting our conversation and leading Christina to grab my arm and drag me at a run to our math class.  
Five minutes in, Christina passes me a scrap of paper with her phone number on it, and I pass mine back.  
Maybe, just maybe, I’ve made a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm also posting this on fanfiction.net [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12443309/1/Faction-High-School), and the three reviews I got on there asking me to update were enough to get you a second chapter!

Math and History pass surprisingly quickly, considering my past of spending nearly two hours on each a day. Just after Math ended, she showed me to my history classroom, and found Will, who was in both History and the upcoming AP English class, and who was, according to Christina, “the only thing that’ll keep you from killing yourself after English with Peter.” Needless to say, my worry only spiked after Will started nodding vigorously.  
Will walks with me to AP English, and sits at the desk to my left. We talk together for a few minutes, with me telling him about homeschooling and him asking a seemingly infinite amount of questions, before the boy I recognize as Peter enters the room, looking over the other students with disdain before dumping his bag at the desk to my right. His eyes sweep up and down me, before he smirks, and turns to Will. “Fresh blood, eh? I like it,” he says, his voice shockingly high-pitched for a guy’s.  
Will glares at Peter, who turns to me swiftly. “So what’s your story? Just move here?”  
Caught off guard, I nod mutely, and open my mouth to add that I was homeschooled when I see Will shaking his head at me out of the corner of my eye. He glances down at his phone, then back at me, giving me a significant look. I pull my phone out slowly, and see a text from Will, saying, “Don’t give him fuel against you.”  
I give Will a quizzical look, and he types, “Later.”  
Peter shifts his gaze between us, his eyes narrowing. But before he can say anything, the teacher walks in and starts class. 

I reunite with Christina outside the Spanish classroom. She’s with a girl only a few inches taller than me, her blond hair kept short in a pixie cut. As we wait to enter the classroom, Christina says, “This is Lynn,” gesturing to the girl at her side. When she sees Lynn looking at the other students, a bored expression on her face, Christine elbows her in the ribs, and, wincing, she looks at me, eyeing me up and down in a similar way to Peter. Unlike Peter, she gives me a nod, then holds out her hand to me.  
“Name?” she asks abruptly.  
“Uh, Tris,” I answer, taking her hand awkwardly. I have got to get used to saying that name. And to shaking hands.  
She nods slightly. “Tris. I dig it.” With that, she turns away and continues her watching of the passing students, eyeing a few of the girls surreptitiously.  
I turn to Christina. “Is she-”  
“Always like that? Yep,” Christina interrupts, misinterpreting my unfinished question. When she sees that she got the question wrong, she tries again. “Gay? None of us really know, she tends to keep to herself about pretty much everything.”  
I nod, though it’s still not the correct question. “Okay.. But is she in Spanish?”  
Christina’s eyes widen. “Ohh.. No, she’s in the 3rd period AP Spanish, but she stuck around so she could meet you before the rest.” To answer my questioning glance, she adds, “She doesn’t like meeting new people when there’s others around, it’s a quirk of hers.”  
I nod slowly, and before I know it, it’s time to enter the classroom.

Like the rest, Spanish passes quickly, and Christina walks with me to lunch. She shows me to a table with three other people already sitting at it; Will, Lynn, and another girl I haven’t met yet. She has long brown hair, and looks remarkably similar to Lynn. Will gestures over to her. “Tris, this is Shauna. Shauna, meet Tris.”  
Shauna glances up at me. “New kid?” I nod. Christina sits down next to Will, and I take a seat on her other side, appreciating the fact I don’t have to sit with Caleb for lunch. Suddenly, a tall, dark-skinned guy runs across the cafeteria, sliding into a seat across from us.  
“‘Sup guys? Who’s that?” he says energetically, pointing to me while facing Christina and Will.  
“Um, this is Tris. Tris, meet Uriah,” Christina says.  
“And Zeke,” Will adds, as another boy plops down next to Uriah.  
“Hey bro, new kid, name’s Tris,” Uriah says quickly to Zeke.  
He nods at me, then turns to Shauna, saying, “Hey, did you hear about Four?”  
Shauna looks up. “No, what about him?”  
“He’s helping out Lauren in gym, to get extra money and such.”  
She smiles. “He definitely needs all he can get, now that he’s living on his own. Remind me, why’d he move out of your place?”  
As their conversation continues, I lean over to Christina. “Who’s Four?”  
She turns to me. “Oh, he’s that weird friend of Zeke and Shauna I mentioned earlier. Him and Zeke met when Four was a sophomore and Zeke was a freshman. They became pretty much best friends, to the point where Four actually ended up living with Zeke’s family for two years, until he turned eighteen.”  
“Why’d he have to move in with Zeke, couldn’t he just stay with his family?” I ask, slightly confused.  
“Family drama,” Uriah said, butting in on our conversation. Christina looks at him oddly. “What, I had to live with the guy for two years, you think I didn’t find out stuff about him?”  
“No, I thought you told us all the stuff you found out about him. You never told us about family drama,” Christina says, her eyes narrowing.  
“Well, I just told you now, didn’t I? If I’d told you before, Four woulda found out and killed me.” When he sees the skeptical expression on my face, he adds, “Like, literally killed me, he’s crazy strong, like you wouldn’t believe. Anyway, now, I know he won’t find out I said that unless one of you lets the beans outta the bag. So don’t open the bag, okay?” he wraps up, his eyes shifting between me and Christina frantically. “Like seriously, I don’t want to be killed in my sleep. He already knows where I live, he just needs to get in the house and slit my throat.” Clearly, Uriah had put a lot of thought into how this ‘Four’ guy would be able to kill him if he spilled his secrets.  
The bell rings, and Christina turns back to me. “What class d’you have next?”  
“PE,” I answer.  
“Great, same. And I think Uriah and Lynn do too,” she says.  
“Hooray, you get to meet the guy himself!” Uriah says, a cheery grin on his face. All of a sudden, his face becomes deadly serious, all traces of a smile gone. “But remember, don’t tell him I said ‘family drama,’ I don’t want to be dead tomorrow.”  
Christina and I nod, and we leave for the gym together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter was mainly the “meeting people” chapter, not much happened. I won’t be going into extreme detail for the classes, because I actually don’t know what high school classes are like.. In the next chapter, Four finally enters the story! It took him two whole chapters and 2,241 words, but he finally made it! (I’m being sarcastic, if you can’t tell, that’s a really short time) This is going to be a Fourtris story btw, just making sure you know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in getting this out, all my classes are wrapping up, and that means more homework and studying for the final exam and stuff, so I didn't have a bunch of time to write. The good thing is, I figured out how to integrate factions!   
> Just so you know, I gave a friend of mine permission to post this on her account. So, if you see this story posted by the221cTimeLord, don't report it for copyright, I gave her permission.  
> By the way, I am basing what the PE is like entirely on other Divergent High School AUs, because as I've said before, I don't know what it's actually like, I've never gone to school. So just keep that in mind.  
> Now, on to the chapter!

I walk to the gym with Christina, dreading the upcoming class. When I was homeschooled, I had heard people who had gone to high school talk about how awful PE was. To be honest, it was one of the things I was the most scared of when my parents told me I would be attending high school.   
We enter the gym, and I see a few other students milling around the large room. The teacher still isn’t here yet.  
Uriah and Lynn arrive shortly after us, along with a tall blonde girl. “Hey Mar!” Christina shouts, raising her hand in greeting.   
The girl jogs over, saying, “Hey Chris!” Turning to me, she asks, “Who’s the new girl?”  
“Tris,” I say, putting my hand out hesitatingly.  
“I’m Marlene, but you can just call me Mar, everyone does it, even the teachers,” she says, shaking my hand and grinning.  
“Alright, everyone over here!” I hear a voice call from a corner of the room. As we start walking over to the speaker, I look her over. She seems to be in her mid-twenties, with several piercings in her eyebrow and purple streaks in her hair. When we all reach her, the person says, “I’m Lauren, I’ll be your PE instructor for as long as you attend this school.” She points to a tall guy leaning against the wall behind her. “This is Four, he’ll be helping me out.”  
As we all look at him, he crosses his arms and lets his gaze sweep over us, never lingering on any one of us for too long. When he glances at Christina, she shivers, and whispers to me, “He freaks me out when he’s like this.”  
I look at her, startled. “How often is he like this?”  
“Bout half the time, maybe more. He only acts like a normal person around Zeke, Shauna, and sometimes Uriah. For the rest of us, he’s like.. Well, like that,” she answers, jerking her head toward him as he continues to survey us.   
His gaze falls on me, and I’m startled by how cold his dark blue eyes are. Then, strangely, I think I see a flash of pain in his eyes before he turns to the next person. This guy has been through some shit, I think to myself.   
Finally, he pushes himself away from the wall and stands next to Lauren. She grins, surveying the various degrees of discomfort and fear in our faces. “Shall we get started, then?”

Four doesn't speak for most of the class, as Lauren watches us do push-ups and sit-ups to assess what level we’re currently on. He walks between the pairs of students - I’m paired with Christina - and stops next to us. I’m currently counting Christina do push-ups, and as I watch, she gives a visible start and almost falls. I don't dare look away from Christina, as she finishes the minute required. We both glance at Four, and there's a short silence before he raises his eyebrow and says quietly, “Don't you have to do yours?” He has a deep voice, the type that makes me not hesitate for a second before dropping an starting my push-ups. I don't have as much practice with push-ups as Christina, and I'm not entirely sure I'm even doing them correctly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him watching me, and my hands get suddenly slippery. “Straighten your back a bit,” he says suddenly, and I almost drop myself face-first onto the floor before catching myself. I quickly do what he suggested, and he nods, then turns to Uriah and Marlene.   
Christina looks after him, looking slightly shocked. As she helps me up, she says, “He actually talked. Well damn. I was thinking he wouldn't say anything this whole time.”  
Not sure what to respond to that, I just nod, and wipe my hands on my pants to get some of the sweat off. I glance over at Uriah and Marlene, and can’t help but smirk at the sight before me. Uriah is rubbing his nose, which has gone red, and Marlene is almost doubled over laughing. Beside me, Christina starts chuckling. “He must have fallen on his face when Four showed up,” she manages to choke out before collapsing in laughter like Marlene.   
The class continues, with Four not talking to either Christina or me again. Right when I’m leaving the gym, I see Zeke step in the door. Four pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on, and does that weird thing guys do where they grab each other’s hand and clap each other on the back. Which I just call a “guy hug.” “‘Sup, man!” Zeke says, grinning.   
Surprisingly, Four grins back. “Nothin’ much. I get to boss you around this year.”  
Zeke’s expression freezes, then he shouts loudly, “DAMMIT!”  
Hiding my smile, I rush out the door and head to my next class. 

The bell rings, and I practically skip out of my last class, a wide grin on my face. This was possibly the greatest first day of school ever. I met so many people, made so many friends. I have more friends now, after one day, then I ever have had before in all my sixteen years of homeschooling.   
I run into Christina by my locker, and she grins when she sees me. “Well, what’s made you so happy?” she asks.   
I grin wider. “The art teacher said I was really good. She wants to bump me up to a higher level.”  
“Awesome!” she says.  
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Uriah slowly sneaking up on Christina. When he sees me looking at him, he puts a finger to his lips. I shift my eyes back to Christina, and he grabs her shoulders suddenly.   
“Oh shit!” she shouts loudly, turning around and slapping Uriah’s arm. “Don’t do that, it scares the hell outta me, I always think you’re Peter or something.”   
Uriah grins and holds his arms up defensively. “Hey, I’m just getting back at you for last year.”  
I look between them. “What happened last year?”  
“Oh, nothing,” Uriah says a little too quickly.   
I raise my eyebrow at him, and Christina whispers in my ear, “I’ll tell you when he’s not here.”  
Out loud, she says, “Well, I’ll just get back at you tomorrow!”  
“You wish! Zeke’s been training me over the summer, and he learned from Four, so I’m basically learning from the best of the best.”  
“Ha, keep telling yourself that.” Christina grins.  
“Wait, what’s happening tomorrow?” I ask, confused.  
They both glance at me, then back at each other. “You haven’t told her about the factions yet?” Uriah says indignantly, staring at Christina.   
“I thought you were going to!” she replies, just as indignant.  
“Sorry, what factions?”  
They look back to me, then start talking.  
“So, every Tuesday and Thursday, there’s after-school clubs that we call factions-” Christina starts.  
“-that are probably the funnest part of this school, it’s why it’s called Faction High.” Uriah interjects.  
Christina glares at him, then continues. “There’s the ones who just make study groups, they’re called the Erudite, then there’s a group that go out and do volunteer work, they’re the Abnegation. There’s the debate club, they’re the-”  
“PANSYCAKES!” Uriah shouts, cutting her off.   
“Ahem. They’re the Candor. I used to be in debate club, remember?” Christina says in a deadly voice. Uriah nods quickly, an exaggerated expression of fear on his face. “Anyway,” she continues in a bright voice. “There’s the Amity, they do arts and crafts, and also cooking sometimes, then there’s us, the Dauntless, who go to a local gym, and work out and do fake fighting and stuff. The teachers sometimes let us use the school gym, too, if we need it for something.”  
“All the people you met today are Dauntless, including Peter, unfortunately. Four used to be Dauntless, until he graduated, I think he actually works at that gym after school time,” Uriah adds, jumping back into the conversation.  
I nod slowly. “Alright, so can I try one out before committing to it fully?”  
“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Christina says.  
“OH, I just remembered something! The factions also meet on every other Saturday, and normally the Dauntless one starts out at a gym and ends up at me and Zeke’s house because we have a party most of the time. So you should join Dauntless. We have the most fun out of all the factions, in our highly valued opinion,” Uriah rattles out quickly. “In fact, there’s one this Saturday!”  
“Cool. So, I guess I’ll try out Dauntless this week and see how I like it?” I say, starting to get excited.  
Uriah grins. “Yep!”  
Zeke suddenly bounds up behind Uriah, flashing a smile at me before turning to his younger brother. “C’mon, bro, we gotta go.”  
“See ya tomorrow, Tris!” they both say in unison, waving as they walk away. “You too, Christina!” Uriah adds as an afterthought.  
Christina and I walk together outside, where I spot my mother’s car waiting for me at the curb. “Guess that’s my cue to get going,” I say, gesturing to the car.   
“Yeah, guess so. See you tomorrow!”  
“See ya!” I shout over my shoulder as I clamber into the back seat - Caleb has already claimed the front for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tris's first day of school is finally finished! So that was a slightly longer chapter than before, mainly because this was the last of the establishing chapters, in a way. They'll stay this length, pretty much, maybe a bit longer. Depends on how much I feel like writing, and where the logical stopping points are.  
> I haven't really proofread this, because it's literally midnight right now, and I'm half asleep while I'm writing this, but I wanted to get this out and not make you wait any longer.. so sorry about any spelling or grammar mistakes :/  
> I've figured out how I'm going to be doing Four's backstory in this, but that won't show up for several more chapters. *waggles eyebrows*  
> That party Uriah mentioned will have some Candor or Dauntless in it, because I just love that game, sooo.. Please, if you have ideas for dares/truth questions, leave 'em in the comments/reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I'm really sorry it's been taking so long to get chapters out, there's a bunch of factors combined that cause this. There's the fact that school is wrapping up meaning final exams and more homework, BUT, that reason will be gone come June, so I should be able to get chapters out faster then.  
> The other thing is, the week after I posted the previous chapter, I watched through both Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Then, the next week, I started watching Doctor Who. AND, that week, I also was working on another fanfic, called ‘A Genius Among The Ordinary,’ that I’m writing with my good friend [The221cTimeLord](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/8478677/The221cTimeLord), it’s now up on both our accounts.  
> Plus, in the middle of that, I had a pretty bad cold. On top of the schoolwork.  
> Anywho, enough of my awful excuses, on to the chapter!

Caleb’s alarm blares, drilling into my head and jerking me out of sleep. I jump up immediately, a grin already spreading on my face as I remember the amazing day I had yesterday. Hopefully, today will go just as well.   
As I prepare a lunch, I remember: Faction Clubs start today! Sure, it means extra time having to deal with Peter, but it also means extra time with my friends, doing what they love to do. And I hope it’s what I love to do too!  
During the bus ride, while Christina is jabbering about something to Will, I’m thinking about yesterday. What can I do to make today better? I remember that yesterday, after lunch and before PE, I was a little rushed to get changed into gym clothes quickly, which was worsened by the fact that I wasn’t comfortable changing clothes in front of other people, a side affect of my modest upbringing. How can you fix that? I could leave lunch early, get changed before anyone else gets there.. With a plan in place, I settle into my seat, zoning out as Christina continues yammering at a thousand miles an hour.

My first four classes pass without incident, despite the fact that Peter was in English with me and Will. I should have known it was going too well to last.   
Five minutes before lunch ends, I get up, telling Christina that I’m going to change early for PE. She nods vaguely, not pausing her conversation with Marlene, and I leave the cafeteria, making my way to the gym. I change relatively quickly, leaving two minutes to spare before the rest will start coming in. I sit on the bench in the middle of the room, and suddenly, I remember an old bench, I used to sit on all the time.   
__  
I’m seven years old, just starting this program. I sit on the bench, trying to blend in with the oak tree just behind it. Then, a boy sits next to me. “Hi,” he says in a quiet, shy voice. “My name’s Tobias. What’s yours?”  
I look up at him, surprised that anyone would want to talk to that one weird new kid, much less a boy who seems two - or more - years older than me. “I’m Beatrice,” I say hesitantly.   
He smiles, his deep blue eyes seeming to lighten a shade. ‘Nice to meet you,” he says politely. “Oh, and believe me, everyone’s like you when they first start. I was too.” Then, something seems to catch his eye behind me, and he suddenly looks terrified. “I, uh.. I gotta go. See you around, Beatrice.” And just like that, he left.  
When I turned around, all I saw was the administrator of the program, Marcus Eaton. Slowly shaking his head.

_I’m nine years old, and I’m sitting on the bench, holding my knee with both hands. I was running too fast, trying to get to class, and I fell and scraped my knee. I’m trying to get the bleeding to stop, when I see a hand holding a few paper towels. I look up at the deep blue eyes, and ask, “Tobias?”_  
He grins. “You remembered me,” he says, sliding into the seat beside me. He pressing the paper towels to my knee.  
“Don’t you have a class to go to?” I ask, again being hesitant, not wanting to seem like I wanted him to leave. In fact, I just wanted to know why he was helping me, going out of his way.  
He shrugs. “Got a break now. Saw you in the bench, during a time I know you have a class, so I was curious. Then I saw the blood, and figured you’d need to stop it bleeding. So, here I am.”  
“Well.. thanks.” I think for a couple of moments, then realize something. “How do you know I have a class now?”  
“I’ve seen you running frantically to get to it on time. When you realize you do that every week, it’s a miracle you haven’t gotten hurt until now.”  
He removes the paper towels from my knee for a second, then rotates them to a clean area and presses them back onto it. He continues this process until they stay clean. “You’re good, it’s stopped bleeding now.”  
“Thanks,” I say smiling.   
“‘Cause of the five minute gap between classes, I think you only missed the first couple of minutes, you can still go catch the rest of your class,” he says, and I nod.   
“Right. See you around, Tobias,” I say, as I walk the rest of the way to the classroom. 

_I’m twelve years old, and I’m walking to the bench to eat lunch. Only someone’s already there. He sits, holding a few wet paper towels to his jaw, with a few dry ones in the other hand. He glances up, and I recognize the warm blue eyes. “Tobias?” I ask, and he nods, closing his eyes and indicating the seat to his right. I sit, and as he removes the paper towels to rotate them to a clean part, I almost gasp. His jaw sports several impressive purple bruises, all along it, and going a bit down his neck. “What happened?” I ask, my voice wavering a bit._  
He sighs. “I slipped on some stairs yesterday, I fell and landed right on my jaw.”  
“Are you okay?”  
“I've had worse,” he replies with a grimace.  
I’m still worried about him, but he seems to be used to this, so I shake it off. Noticing he doesn’t have any food, and he’s probably hungry, I offer him some of my lunch, and he accepts. I watch him eat, how he winces when he chews then cringes when he winces. I think his injury goes far past what he’s let me see, but I’m not brave enough to bring it up.  
I glance at my watch, and all too soon, it’s time for my next class. I tell Tobias so, and get up. He manages a smile, and says, “See you around, Beatrice,” with another grimace. 

_I’m fourteen, and Tobias is sitting on the ground, his back to the oak tree, his face turned to the back of the bench. I sit backwards on the bench, my arms slung over the back. We stare at each other for a few moments, then he asks quietly, “What would you do if I left?”_  
I stare at him in confusion for a few second, saying, “Like, what, left here now, stopped coming here, what?”  
“If I just left. For good.”  
I shrug. “I’d miss you, and I’d move on, I guess.” I watch him carefully, gauging his response. He doesn’t move for a moment or two, then, all of a sudden, his hand is cupping my cheek, and he’s right there, and suddenly his lips are on mine, and I don’t know what to do. My brain isn’t working, so I let my mouth move on its own.  
Then, all too soon, we’ve separated, and he bites his lip. I stare up at him as he stands, slowly. “Goodbye, Beatrice,” he says softly, turning and walking away. 

_The next evening, it was all over the evening news. Missing person, Tobias Eaton, aged sixteen. Most people assumed he was either kidnapped or he ran away. My parents firmly believed he ran away, constantly saying ‘how terrible it was for Marcus that his only son abandoned him.’_  
  
I shake my head. That was then. This is now. People will start coming in soon, meaning I should get out of the locker room. I slip out, the door closing behind me, and lean against a wall to wait for everyone.   
A few moments later, Peter rounds the corner, flanked on one side by a tall, rather ugly girl with red hair, and on the other by a large boy, also with red hair.  
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” he says haughtily. “What did you do, wear those all day?”  
I keep my cool, saying, “No, wouldn’t you have noticed if I did that? We do have a class together, after all.”  
He narrows his eyes. “I wouldn’t have noticed a tiny Stiff like you,” he says menacingly, walking closer to me. Anger flashes through me. ‘Stiff’ is a slang word I’ve heard what my brother and I called ‘public school kids’ using to refer to us whenever we were at museums and they had a field trip. Apparently, it was a derogatory way to talk about home schoolers.   
I narrow my eyes right back at him. “What makes you think I’m a Stiff?” I ask, challenging him with my words.   
“Oh, you know, the way you talk, and act, and do everything, and always look around with wide eyes at everything.”  
My eyes burn with anger. Then, I notice a large hand on Peter’s shoulder, just seconds before it pulls him back and slams him against a wall.  
“What was that?” a low voice says, and I recognize it as Four’s. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Peter’s two cronies slipping into their respective locker rooms.   
Peter opens and closes his mouth, but nothing comes out.  
“Exactly. Now go get changed.” Four removes his hand from Peter’s shoulder, and Peter slips around him to go into the locker room. Then, he turns to me. “You all right?”  
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say, smoothing my hand over my shirt.   
“Good,” he says, turning away and walking to the door of the gym. Right before he goes in, he looks over his shoulder, and whispers something under his breath. I may have heard it wrong, but I could swear I heard, “See you around, Beatrice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the semi-cliffhanger. It was actually going to be way more cliffhanger-y than that, but I changed it so it would make more sense with the story, timing-wise. So, anyway, hope you enjoyed that little montage-flashback-thing! Initially, that wasn’t even in there, I was just going to have it be a tiny thing, then focus on the encounter with Peter, and it would have had what happened after that, and it would have gotten all the way to the Faction club thing. But then I started writing and the story began writing itself, and I couldn’t stop it.   
> Thank you so much to The221cTimeLord for helping me get un-stuck with this chapter, for the longest time I knew what I wanted to do, but had no idea how to go about it, and she helped me a bunch with that. (she even gave me the specifics for what Peter would say to Tris to piss her off). And thank you so much to the total of six reviewers I’ve gotten. Some of them are probably the same person, but they’re all guests, so I can’t tell.   
> I really am sorry this update came so late, the next one definitely shouldn’t take as long. Please, leave a review telling me what you thought, those really help motivate me to write more!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to SheWhoTurnedToDust, DivergentUnicorn46, WriterGirl001, and two RGPs (Random Guest Person, as The221cTimeLord says) for reviewing last chapter over on ff.net, it’s largely thanks to you guys that this chapter’s out now and not in three/four more weeks, although it is still out later than I would like.. Because I’ve had Doctor Who feels on my mind, plus I’m Muslim and it’s Ramadan, meaning I can’t eat or drink from sunrise to sunset, which isn’t exactly beneficial to creative thoughts and writing.. Anywho, yeah! On to the chapter!

The rest of the school day goes as smoothly as should be expected, as nothing unusual happens besides Peter’s constant unpleasant presence. Before I know it, the final bell is ringing and students are flooding into the parking lot, jumping into their own and each other’s cars and heading off to their Faction’s activity. My eyes sweep around the parking lot, surveying each group as they pass. I spot a group clearly identifiable as the Candor; their bickering and arguing is audible even though they’re all the way on the other side of the parking lot. A group near them carries books and the majority of them have glasses, definitely the Erudite. I’m surprised to discover that Caleb is among them. He always fit in better with the other kids at our homeschooling program, better than I did, anyway, always sedately following the rules and keeping his head low, helping others wherever he could.  
In fact, there is a group acting exactly how I expected Caleb to act, walking calmly to various cars, always letting others pass ahead of them, wearing baggy clothes, driving in many different directions, probably to help as many people as possible. They must be the Abnegation, the volunteers.  
The only group walking into the school is the Amity, carrying their supplies in large plastic bins as they enter the school, with full reign over the property until they go home. My eyes track them as they make their way inside, before I feel a hand fall on my shoulder. I jump, then turn to see Christina grinning. “You ever see those weird murals and paintings on the walls? That’s their doing. And sometimes we have a paintball war, that’s what those random splashes are. But mostly, it’s the Amity that do the interior decor,” she says, with a sarcastic flourish of the hand at the final word, her grin growing wider at her mention of the paintball gun fights.  
Behind her, I see a small crowd, jostling each other and laughing, each sporting a black armband. Looking around again, I notice that each group has armbands with different colors, the Erudite having blue, the Amity having yellow, the Abnegation with grey, and the Candor having checked black and white.  
Turning back to Christina, I say, “Where’s my armband?” after noticing she, too, has a black one.  
“Here,” she says, handing me one with an orange ‘I’ visible in the middle. I glance at hers again, and also see the orange ‘I.’  
As I slip the armband on, I look around at the rest of the group, and see that about a third have ‘I’s, about two thirds have red ‘M’s, and only two or three have purple ‘L’s on them. “Hey, what’re the letters for?” I ask Christina, but it’s Uriah who answers, popping up on my other side.  
“There’s different levels and statuses among the Dauntless, the ‘I’s are the lowest level, they stand for ‘initiate.’ The initiates are all the freshman, plus about half the sophomores, they’re the ones who haven’t gotten a certain number of wins when we do sparring and stuff. The ‘M’s are medium level, they stand for ‘member,’ the people who have gotten that number of wins in sparring, they’re pretty much everyone else.” He pauses to take a breath, panting before continuing, “The ‘L’s are the leaders, they’re the ones who decide what we do when, what days we do sparring and what days we do other stuff, they make sure we can use our gym, and when we can’t, they figure out something else for us to do, that type of thing. They’re hand-picked by Eric, ‘cause he used to be a Dauntless, and we vote to approve them, they need a 50% or more vote to be approved.”  
“So what are you?” I ask, trying not to laugh at his efforts to breath normally.  
“I’m,” *pant pant* “an initiate,” *deep breath* “with only three,” *pant* “more wins before,” *gasp* “I become a member,” he wraps up, still panting and gasping for air.  
Christina takes over for him then, explaining how Lynn, Marlene, Will, and herself are also initiates, and Zeke and Shauna are both members. “There’s also one rank that we don’t currently have, that Four used to be, which is the instructor, he had the job of dealing with us noobs and being an asshole. I think right now, no one’s an instructor, but Four’s still gonna come back and teach sometimes, only now he’s getting paid by the gym to deal with us,” she finishes.  
‘Right, so how do we get to the gym?” I ask.  
Christina grins. “We run.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh my god, how much farther is this damn place?” I shout at Christina, breathing heavily.  
“Only a bit farther!” she shouts back.  
“You see that intersection? It’s right around that corner!” Zeke yells over his shoulder as he passes us.  
I can feel my limbs starting to burn, but we’re almost there, so I don't stop.  
We finally get to the gym, and I’m panting, struggling to breath normally. Around me, the Dauntless crowd at the entrance, bottlenecking at the small doors that only permit one person at a time through them.  
Christina and Will stay with me as I catch my breath. Finally, I'm able to look up from the ground, and I notice that Four is standing in the open doorway, watching us.  
“You gonna take the rest of the day? I have to lock up the doors, ‘cause official times are technically over,” he says quietly.  
We walk over, Christina slipping past him quickly, followed immediately by Uriah. I hesitate slightly, contemplating asking him about what he said earlier today in school. But then he raises an eyebrow, and indicates the door, and I blush, slipping through without a word.  
As soon as I'm through, Christina slings an arm over my shoulders, and says, “You know, I have a theory about you.”  
“And it is?” I ask as we pass through the doors to the main training room.  
“That you have a death wish.”

Once we enter, we spot Zeke and Shauna directing people to various locations, based on their arm bands. The members were all going to one end of the room, and some were leaving to go to different ones. Zeke sees me watching them, and says, “They’re going off to the gun range, only seniors are allowed to go.”  
I nod. “What’re they doing?” I ask, gesturing to a few of the ones heading to a supply room and setting up a large target.  
Zeke grins. “That’s the knife target, we do knife throwing too.”  
To one side of the room, there’s a line of punching bags, and near the middle, there’s two sparring rings, one of which is currently being used by two members, throwing punches at each other, but pulling back before the hits land.  
Watching them, I say, “Don't people get hurt?”  
“Rarely, and we always have a first aid kit and at least one person who’s certified, just in case.”  
“Zeke! Do your job!” a deep voice that I recognize as Four’s calls from near the punching bags.  
Zeke jumps, then calls back, “Yeah, yeah..” He gestures me to the punching bags, and I join Christina and Uriah in the crowd of other initiates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Christina, Zeke, and Uriah, you wonderful exposition dumpers, you. So this was a rather shorter chapter, mainly because I wanted to get this out for you guys. The sad thing is, it took me twelve days to write this - with me knowing exactly what I wanted to do in this chapter! Unlike the next chapter, in which I have no idea what I’ll do, especially because it’s probably gonna be fighting training, and I don’t know a thing about fighting.  
> So, basically, I’m hedging, because the next chapter probably won’t come out until July. And I don’t want to feel super guilty like I have every time it takes me over a week.  
> PLUS, what sucks even more about that, is the fact that in July, we’re gonna be house hunting! Meaning I have to consciously think about leaving the house I’ve lived in for the glorious thirteen years of my life. So that’s always fun. (obvious sarcasm is obvious)  
> So, yeah, a preemptive apology for the lateness of the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE RETURNED! Fasting is over, and creative thoughts can begin anew! Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments (Ao3 and ff.net), you are the absolute best readers I could ask for! Two special shoutouts go to IceFire15 for commenting on nearly every chapter, and to WriterGirl001 for your comment that, whenever I was feeling down, I would go and read it and be happy again! Which also applies to all the comments, but especially yours. So thank you guys so much!  
> Anywho, on to the chapter!

Christina, Uriah, and I walk together over to Four, along with all the freshman here and a smattering of other sophomores. Standing against a wall to our right are a pair of Dauntless members, a guy and a girl, talking and laughing. The guy has long-ish brown hair, with streaks of green shot through. His face seems to have a natural grin perpetually on his face, and his arm is slung over the girl’s shoulders. The girl has shoulder length dark blond hair and hazel eyes, and, I'm glad to see, a rather small frame like me.   
“Initiates!” Four says loudly, effectively cutting off all conversation among the crowd. “Today we'll be demonstrating some fighting methods, then have you practice punches and kicks on the bags. We won't be having you fight each other until Thursday.”  
A chorus of “Aww”s rise up from the sophomores, who had obviously been hoping to get a few extra wins. Four frowns. “Sorry guys, but you need to brush up too. And you can help the new kids; there's only one of me, you know!”   
“Ahem,” a female voice from the side says, and we all look over to see the pair of members standing away from the wall.   
The guy waves with a little grin and says, “Hi, guys!” Turning to Four, he adds, “We exist too, you know.”  
Four sighed. Indicating the two, he says, “This is Emily and Tim, they’re training to be instructors and the start of next semester.” They grin identical smiles. “They’re also gonna help me demonstrate our rules of fighting without serious injury,” Four add, shooting a glance at them.  
They straighten up immediately, trying to look more professional. Four - wait for it - he actually grins at them, and for once the ice in his blue eyes seems to melt a little. “Okay, so they're gonna demonstrate punches as I say them.” And just like that, his eyes are back to their normal ice cold state.  
The first fifteen minutes pass with Four naming punches - like an uppercut - and either Emily or Tim demonstrating it on the other, stopping just before it hit. Finally, his list apparently runs out, and Tim and Emily step away from each other, still grinning widely.   
Tim claps his hands together. “Right then. Now, Em and I are gonna show you what one of our fights is like. And how to NOT HURT EACH OTHER. Peter, I am talking to you. I've still got the scar.”  
A few laughs rise up from the crowd before they’re quickly stifled. Tim and Emily turn towards each other again, and both put their arms up in a defensive position. They circle slowly, before Emily darts forward and uppercuts his jaw - or tries to, because he blocks it and retaliates with a sharp jab to her ribs with his elbow. Off to the side, Four yells “Tim, 1!”  
The fight continues, every time either one landings a hit Four yelling out their name and their current score. After five minutes, he yells, “Time!” and they break apart, breathing heavily.   
Emily immediately turns to Four. “Who won?”  
Four smirks. “Tim did.”   
Tim punches the air, and crows in victory, “Haha, yes! See, Em, I can beat you!”  
“Yeah, yeah, tell that to my twenty-three wins,” she shoots back.  
Tim raises his hands in surrender. “Okay, got me there.”  
They’re still grinning, their friendship clearly stronger than any minor disagreements.   
Four clears his throat. “Alright, now you guys are gonna take turns with the punching bags, and no fighting until we say it’s okay.”  
Near me, I hear Peter mutter sarcastically, “Yes, sir.”   
A shiver goes up my back, part of me not even wanting to know what he’s up to and the other part determined not to rest until I find out. Before I can spare another thought to it, Emily and Tim are walking among us, splitting us into groups to take turns with the punching bags. I end up sharing one with Uriah, Lynn, Christina, and a tall boy named Al. Lynn takes the first turn on the bag, leaving us four to talk amongst ourselves.   
I’m watching Lynn attack the bag and vaguely tuning into the other three’s conversation when I realize Al just asked me a question. I turn to him, an apologetic look on my face. “Sorry, what was that?”  
He looks amused, and repeats, “Are you from around here or did you move? Because I don't remember seeing you around in middle school.”  
“Oh, I moved here over the summer.” At his interested face, I add, “From Virginia, lived there all my life until now.”  
“Yeah, I know that feeling. I moved to the city in elementary school, from out in the country. Not as big a move as yours, though. What was your school like, growing up?” Al has a friendly face, and is easy to talk to as we wait. Subconsciously, I notice that Lynn finished her turn and handed over the punching bag to Uriah.  
“I was actually homeschooled growing up, didn’t know anything about school until I started coming here,” I say, with a small grin on my face.  
Al grins back. “Well, you could have fooled me.”   
We keep making small talk until it’s the others have finished their turns on the bag, then he gestures to it and says, “You go go first, if you want.”  
I smile in gratitude, saying, “Thanks,” as I step forward. At first, I hit the bag uncertainly, confessing, “This is my first time with a punching bag, so do I just..”  
“Hit it?” Christina guesses. “Yeah, you just hit it, hard as you can.”   
I hit it again, a bit more certainly this time, and the others help me adjust my stance so I can start getting the punches right. “That’s pretty good, but you might be better off using something besides your fists.” I start, nearly smacking my nose into the bag when I jump forward. I hadn't realized the instructors were walking around. Tim grinned at my reaction. “Hey, at least I’m not Four. Speaking of.. Four, what do you think?”  
“Hmm?” Four said, looking up from the person he was helping.   
“How do you think she could fight better?”  
Four walked over, looking me up and down briefly before saying, “Not much muscle, so use your elbows and knees.” I nod, and he goes back to his previous spot and continues down the line of punching bags.   
Tim claps my shoulder. “Keep at it, you’re doin’ great!” he says as he turns to the next group.  
As I keep trying the different punches, I feel myself getting more used to them. Then, it’s Al’s turn, and I step away from the bag and look around at the other bags. Most of the older initiates are standing away from the bags, looking bored, while the freshman look a range between hesitant, like me, and overconfident.  
Soon, everyone has had at least one turn with their punching bags, and Four, Emily, and Tim go back to the front of the room. “Alright, now, based on your skill level that we just observed, and, if you’re a sophomore, how many fights you’ve won, we’re going to organize you into pairs to take turns in the rings,” Emily shouts, again effectively cutting off conversation. “While we do that, go ahead and practice with each other - but DON’T MAKE CONTACT until we start the regulated, scored fights. Got it?” At the end, she glares and looks around the crowd, focusing on random people.  
A general wave of consent rolled over the gathered crowd, and Emily steps back, satisfied. She joins Tim and Four at a small table in the corner.  
Free from the prying eyes of the instructors, I take this chance to look around the room again. Right behind us, across the room, a group of members are throwing small knives at a large target, whooping whenever anyone gets close to or hits the center.   
A few members are also crowding around a table with food on it, a few with plates of chocolate cake in their hands. I hear a gasp next to my ear, and turn to see Christina standing there, in a pose that looks like she was about to tap my shoulder. But now she’s frozen, staring eagerly at the slices of cake. I glance at her quizzically, and she seems to realize that I’m still here. She looks at me, and I can see glee in her eyes. “Uriah and Zeke made their special cake!”  
“What? What special cake?”  
She blinks, almost not comprehending the concept that someone doesn't know what the special cake is.”Uriah and Zeke have this secret recipe for the most amazing chocolate cake in the world, they sometimes make it for special occasions and bring it to the Dauntless meetings.”  
“When can I try some?”  
“After we practice fighting,” Uriah says, coming up next to me. Turning to Christina, he adds, “We need to teach her our ways!”   
She smirks, and says, “Why yes, yes we do.”  
I glance between them rapidly, and they each grab one of my arms and drag me to an unoccupied corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you happen to have read the two chapters currently up of A Genius Among The Ordinary, the collab between me and The221cTimeLord, you’ll recognize Tim and Emily from that story. Tim is my OC, Emily 100% belongs to The221cTimeLord, I just borrowed her for this :D And if you’re curious.. I ship them, so as far as I’m concerned.. They’re together.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Your reviews really are the best part of writing this - don't get me wrong, this is a lot of fun on its own, but your reviews just make me so happy whenever I get them. (When I got the notification for the twentieth review over on ff.net I was so happy I was grinning pretty much all day) So please, leave a review or comment telling me what you thought!  
> What follows is sort of a funny story, so if you’re super not interested you can close this and stop reading, but otherwise, you’re welcome to stay!  
> So a couple weeks ago I told one of my best friends about this story, because even though she hasn't read Divergent she likes reading my stories and giving feedback. We were on a video call while she read, and when she got to the end of chapter four, she gasped, looked straight up at the camera, and asked in a shocked tone of voice, “Is Four Tobias?”  
> Being the douchebag that I am, I responded with “I shall say nothing” and a mysterious smile. Because I really don't want to spoil Divergent for her.  
> Anyway, yeah, just kinda a cool/funny story. :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so, incredibly sorry it has taken so long to write this chapter. I do have my usual (terrible) excuses though! First, for two weeks I was volunteering at an exhausting Girl Scout camp, which literally started an hour after I posted the previous chapter. Second, I have caught up on Doctor Who and have had almost nothing else on my mind since then. Third, as I said in a previous A/N, I’m moving over the summer. We’ve got a contract on a house, just need to hope it doesn't fall through, and then there’ll be the actual moving.. So we’re currently going through every room in the house and getting rid of all the crap. And the living room is ALL boxes.  
> Fourth, about three weeks ago, my old computer decided to stop being able to load Google documents. And decided to not be able to load fanfiction.net either. So I've had to write and post this on my phone, which I never like doing.   
> Luckily, yesterday my new computer arrived, and all day today (that wasn't spent packing) was spent setting it up. So starting tomorrow, I will have a functional computer again!   
> Actually, the reason you’re getting this chapter now and not a hell of a lot later is because of.. the hero of the day, the RGP who left that ‘please update’ review. Sure, a lot of people don't appreciate them, but that review is what finally pushed me to get off my ass and write this chapter.  
> Anyway, you didn't come here for my moaning, you came here for the new chapter. So here ya go! Hope you enjoy!

My fist stops inches away from Christina’s jaw. “Alright, good! I think you’ve got the hang of it, Tris!” Uriah says from the side of our little imaginary sparring ring. I reach my hands back to my hair tie, shaking my hair out of its ponytail before retying it.  
Christina glances over at Uriah. “Cake time?”   
He grins. “Cake time,” he confirms.  
Christina grabs me by the elbow, dragging me over to the table where the apparently famous chocolate cake was. Already, there was a line built up. Uriah breezes past everyone, shouting, “Baker’s privilege!” when they protest his cutting the line.   
He comes out with three plates, a fat slice of chocolate cake on each one. Christina holds up a finger. “Hang on,” she says, ducking into the crowd. She emerges a little later with three plastic forks. Sticking one fork in the middle of each cake slice, she hands one plate to me and grins, saying, “Enjoy.”   
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a group of four people heading towards us. As they grow closer, I recognize Will, Shauna, Marlene, and Lynn. They reach us, and Will asks, “Tris having her first slice of cake?”  
Uriah nods. “This should be good,” Marlene says, grinning and making an exaggerated ‘eager watching’ face.  
I slowly take a bite, watching with amusement as their faces get more and more excited. The instant the cake hits my tongue, I almost sigh as it melts in my mouth, tasting like the best chocolate cake I have ever had. “Well?” Shauna asks. I notice Lynn standing off to the side with an apparently bored expression, but her eyes are still watching me carefully, gauging my reaction.   
“It’s..” I begin, dragging it out as long as humanly possible so I can just watch them agonize over not knowing my answer. Uriah even starts a drumroll, banging his hands against the ground. Marlene and Christina join in, until I raise my hand in a ‘Silence!’ position. “It’s AMAZING! Best cake I've ever had.”   
Uriah lets out an exaggerated sigh of relief at my statement, saying, “Glad to see the new blood still like our cake. We’ve still got our touch!” We all laugh loudly at his over-dramatic statement.   
“Shit, how the hell did it get so late?” I faintly hear from somewhere behind me. I glance at my watch, whistling in surprise.   
“Wow, it’s already seven?!” A chorus of ‘damn’s and ‘holy shit’s go up around me.  
“We normally end at seven fifteen, and the last fifteen we normally do nothing but wait to be picked up,” Christina says to me.  
“Also, text whoever’s picking you up,” Marlene adds.   
I pull my phone out of my pocket, texting my mom and dad, ‘Pickup in 15 mins,” letting them lick who would come get me. Then, it strikes me that I don't know the address. Turning to Christina, I ask, “Hey, what's the address?” She answers, and I write it down, sending it to my parents.   
Five minutes - and many slices of cake - later, Four opens up the door we came in by, and we all flood out. He locks up the door behind us, and the seniors and juniors who have their own cars get ready to jog back to the school while the rest of us wait around. A few people continue throwing practice punches at each other while they wait for their rides to come.   
Christina nudges me with her elbow. “So what's goin’ on between you and Four?”   
“Huh?” I say, turning to her. “Wha-nothing’s ‘goin on’ between us.”   
She raises an eyebrow, unbelieving. “Come on, have you not seen the way he looks at you?”  
I raise my eyebrow right back at her. “Now why on earth would he do that? See, you? You’re pretty. Me? Not at all.”  
She rolls her eyes at me. “You’re just being hard on yourself. What guy wouldn't like you?” I still look skeptical and unsure, so she pushes, “Come on, there had to be at least one guy.”  
“Weeelll..” I start, dragging out the ‘well’ as long as humanly possible. Christina is fitting her part perfectly, looking as eager as a puppy about to play fetch. She nods encouragingly, and I continue, “There was this one guy.” She motions for me to tell more, and I just go along with her. Sure, I’m not used to being grilled like this, but I also never really had any friends before now, or at least never any friends close enough to me to demand details on boys. “Tobias, his name was. Really short hair, and these great blue eyes, and he was really nice. He actually.. he, uh.. he-was-my-first-and-only-kiss.” I say the last sentence rapidly, almost not wanting, but at the same time eager, to say it.   
Christina’s eyes widened, as she grinned so wide I could see her back teeth. “How old were you two?”  
“I was fourteen, he was sixteen. He was actually gonna turn seventeen in a few weeks, I think.”  
Christina's eyes got sad. “Why do you say ‘was’?”  
“I never saw him again. He ran away from home that night. He was never found.”  
“Oh my god, Tris! That's awful!” Christina exclaimed, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “I am so sorry I asked.”   
I shake my head, standing stiffly in her embrace. “No, don't be sorry. To tell you the truth, you're the only person who knows about this, besides Tobias, if he's out there somewhere. It feels good to have someone else know besides me.”   
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Four’s cold blue eyes watching us. It makes me think back to when the ice in his eyes melted, ever so slightly. When he repeated the words Tobias always used as a goodbye. How did he know those words? How did he know my full name?   
My phone buzzed in my pocket, making me jump slightly in shock before pulling it out. ‘Get in the car already!’ the text read, and I looked up to see my father’s car at the curb, its owner looking impatiently at me. I laugh, say goodbye to my friends, and climb in the front seat. “We also have to go get Caleb from the library. Honestly, why you two are doing these after-school programs is beyond me,” he says, pulling away and driving in the direction of the local library. We stop in front of the main entrance, and after my dad texts him, Caleb comes out of the front door, a grin in his face, holding multiple thick books in his arms. He shoots me a dirty look for taking the front seat as he sits in the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens.. not. Sorry that chapter was so incredibly short, but, ya know, *points up* those reasons.   
> I just want to say, thank you so much to my readers and reviewers, you keep reading even when I do have a ridiculously long gap between chapters, and you are the absolute best. (Though it's not quite six months. Like my Rebels fic.)  
> I really, really hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm drawing from my own life for it a bit here, 'cuz I've been homeschooled my whole life, and I'm starting high school in the fall, soo.. yeah. I'll try to update this fairly regularly, but right now I'm working on FOUR (lol, get it, Four?) other fanfics, but I'll try to get updates up as soon as possible. Please leave some comments so I know what you think! As always, any Kudos, suggestions, questions, or reviews are greatly appreciated!


End file.
